Zach Made 28!

On Friday Zach turned 28 and to celebrate we spent the afternoon at the Honolulu Zoo.

We were surprised by how nice the zoo is.
We really enjoyed looking at all the animals;
a lot of them were very active, which is always fun to see.
 

 

The Komodo Dragon.

 

Tigers are beautiful creatures.

 

Did you know that the Rhino's horn is made up of the same material as our hair and nails?

 

This guy put on the best show...

he ran and kicked the glass window were Zach was sitting.

The sound was so loud and it got the other chimps hollering.

Giraffes are always cool to see.

 

It was really cool to see the big hippos enter and swim around in the water.

 

I loved watching these little guys!

"I like turtles"

 

These orangutans were just sitting there

and then they each rolled themselves over to play on ropes.

 

So great to see!

 

After the zoo we walked around Waikiki a little bit

then sat on the sand as the sun was setting

before we got to watch fireworks.

 

As the sun was setting we got the text that Zach's newest nephew was just born!

So he now shares his birthday with his baby nephew, such a great birthday present. 

We love the free firework show that the Hawaiian Hilton puts on every Friday night.

And Zach's birthday treat were his favorite malasadas.

We had a good day celebrating his 28th year!

Our One Year Mark!!!

September 12th marked our first year in Hawaii!

As I was looking through our pictures and thinking about the year I couldn't help but feel sentimental.

We took a leap of faith on moving out here.
For me it was following a dream.
For Zach it was gaining independence.
And for us both it was to see if we could really be together.
Sure the year presented struggles
but truthfully it has been the most eye opening
and best year of our lives yet.

We have made a life for ourselves on this island.
And that is an indescribable feeling.

It has been an adventurous year
and we look forward to many more years exploring together.

Our first day exploring 

Our first time living together was in this tent, where we lived for 2 months

on Nalolicious Farm

Sometimes we talk about our time on the farm and living in the tent

and we think it was one of the greatest things we could have ever done.

We went from living in a tent 

to renting our first studio apartment together. 

And we went from just having the scoot

to also having the explorer.

Our first year of visitors...

We loved showing all these people around the place we now call home

and we look forward to many more visitors!

Princess, Becky, and Peter came in October while we were still on the farm

Eric came in January

David and Mary came in March

Papa and his friend Mary came in April

Dad and Berna came in May

We got to see Brad and Christina in July

Ryan and Jamie came for their honeymoon in September

Over the year we've done things we never thought we'd do like cleaning baby catfish tanks 

 or for Zach working with food.

This year has also been a year of many firsts...

Zach officially got his hair in a pony tail 

Speared his first fish 

And we spent our first Christmas alone together

We've enjoyed...

Watching the farm grow

Spending as much time as we can at the beach

And exploring the island

We love being together

and we love living in Hawaii!

We can't wait to see what year 2 brings

Aloha!

Our Vacation {Part Three}

Ryan and Jamie decided to spend their honeymoon on Oahu so we extended our vacation a couple days to spend some time on the North Shore playing tour guide. 

We spent 2 days and 1 night with them and had a lot of fun.

Zach and I love having people here to show around the island. 

We first took them to Waimea Bay. The water was amazingly calm and warm and

Zach, Ryan, and I jumped off Jump Rock.

From there we went to Waimea Falls.

Zach and I had never been there before so we didn't know what to expect but we are glad we went, even though they charge a lot to get in.

The walk to the falls was pretty with all the natural Hawaiian foliage.

From there we went Popai'loa beach to try to find sea turtles but we didn't see any. 

Ryan jumping 

Zach jumping 

Hanging loose in Hawaii

Zach and I about to jump

Our splash

On the way to the falls

Jamie breaking the one rule there was:

no standing on the rocks

It was fun to be able to swim to the falls

Popai'loa beach

The view from their honeymoon suite,

and we got to stay a night!

The next day we went to Lanikai

and they went snorkeling.

Our wedding present to them was a romantic sunset dinner cruise

which was actually a lot of fun.

The cruise strolled along the Waikiki coast line

We are glad we got to spend time with Ryan and Jamie in Hawaii.

We really had a great vacation! 

Our Vacation {Part Two}

The bride and groom asked the wedding party to stay the night before the wedding up in the mountains in a cabin to make sure everyone was there and ready for the wedding. They also allowed significant others to stay. It was great for Zach to be with old friends again and I enjoyed getting to know his friends better. That night we just hung out and went to dinner with everyone. 

The cabin was huge and it slept all 16 of us comfortably

The wedding was not until 4:00pm the next day so we had a few hours in the morning to do whatever.

We played a game of horseshoes, went on a walk, and took a little nap.

Our first time playing horseshoes and we won!

Then around 1:00 we all headed over to the wedding venue, which was beautiful and attached to another cabin where everyone got ready. 

When we arrived the wedding decorating was underway and you could tell people were stressed out. We tried to help but also tried to stay out of the way. 

Before the ceremony we took pictures and explored the venue.

The gentleman working their time pieces

The groomsman

Their ceremony was quirky and unique 

The first dance

I love this guy

Ryan surprised Jamie with a biker ceremony

It was cute! 

My favorite picture of the whole event...

Zach and his oldest friend, Nick were the last ones on the dance floor

It was truly a fun & beautiful wedding!

Glad we got to be a part of it.